Tuesday, June 10, 2008

An initiative to ban racial and gender preferences, the Civil Rights Initiative, is being circulated in Arizona. It is similar to California's Prop. 109 which was spearheaded by Ward Connerly of the American Civil Rights Institute. It was also being circulated in Missouri and Oklahoma, but due to tactics by the opposition group BAMN (By Any Means Necessary), it failed to collect enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. Now, BAMN has flown its members to Arizona to stop the initiative there. They are attempting to block petition signature collecters from getting signatures in every method possible. Their methods are listed here and Sonoran Alliance has documented specific outrageous activity, including stealing candy from a blind vendor, interrupting and stopping public meetings, overturning furniture, lying to innercity African-Americans in order to trick them into coming by the busload to their protests, pelting Asians with soy sauce, and showing a knife threateningly to an initiative supporter.

The aim of ACRI is to deny every Latina/o, black and Native American young person, even those everyone regards as our brightest stars, from being able to go to college and become doctors, lawyers, teachers, or engineers.

There is no truth to this. Prohibit EVERY Latina/o/black and Native American young person from going to college? This kind of language is disgusting.

Another blatantly false statement -

ACRI is nothing more than an attempt by the racists in this state to broaden their anti-Latina/o and anti-immigrant campaigns into an attack against every brown and black person in this state.

This statement accuses the people running the initiative of being racists. They are not, and BAMN cannot cite one instance where they have been. Ward Connerly, whose organization is behind the initiatives, is African-American.

They accuse ACRI of being supported by the KKK -

The KKK-supported ACRI is a ballot initiative to amend the State Constitution to ban all affirmative action programs in Arizona.

But BAMN has never provided a shred of evidence that the KKK supports the initiative, in any state.

BAMN has set up a hotline for people to tip them off when they spot petition circulators, so they can go harass them. Fortunately, local talkshow host and former Congressman J.D. Hayworth is monitoring their despicable actions on his show. One caller told people to call their phone number (602.579.1370) and jam it with phony tips, which is apparently working since the voice mailbox was soon full.

BAMN has also been caught and exposed by Hayworth sending its propaganda home with schoolchildren - probably also illegal.

According to a memo produced by the FBI's Terrorist Research and Analytical Center in 1994, domestic terrorism is defined as,

The unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

It is disturbing that this out of state domestic terrorist group is targeting Arizona. Fortunately, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is watching them.